Jump-Start Your Book

A Simple Formula for That First Outline

Hurrah. I’ve gotten back to writing my fourth mystery. I’d fallen behind because blogging, social media and publicity on my last book had taken up quite a bit of time.

For me, outlining is extremely important. Mainly because a large part of the action in my mysteries take place in the past and have so darn many details, I can’t rely on my pea-brain to remember it all. I begin with my “jump-start” outline. Now, what the heck is that, you ask. I made up the term so I can’t refer you to any book or manual. Since there are two separate story lines in my books – past and present – I actually have two “jump-start” outlines. But since both are very similar I combined them for today’s blog.

Modern (and Past) Story Line

a. Broad overview of story, ie: Digital photographer searches for missing Van Gogh painting after her best friend is murdered (my last book.) The Past story line will be a bit different since this is where the story begins.

Expand this to a paragraph if you like, but no more for now.

b. Characters: Snapshots of main characters, both protagonists and antagonists, to include physical description (so you can visualize them,) their likes, dislikes, what’s important to them . . . or not, education, occupation, you know, general stuff. Add in personality traits: stingy, obsessive, lazy, kooky. Use bullet points. They’ll grow organically as you write.

c. Setting: Where does most of the plot take place? In my last book, Washington, D.C. and Paris, France. Ooh la la. Get it right – go visit, don’t just look at pictures.

d. Major conflicts, ie: Is the main character getting divorced, in love with a loser, always fighting with her boss, her mother, her sister? Are her relationships getting in the way of her job success? These may only come up occasionally and in usually in sub-plots.

e. Ending: You may not always know this at the beginning, but at some point — early on –you do need to know what the ending will be. As a caveat, I will say that I had the ending for one of my books and my editor suggested a completely different one. I loved his idea, changed it and in doing so, ruined my follow-up book. (You’ll have to read it and see. Ha!)

With my “jump-start” outline I write a quick and dirty first draft. At this point, I have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t as far as plot, characters, etc. Now, I get into serious outlining. More detail on all the above, and even a chapter by chapter outline. What will happen next, next, next.

I better define the characters in terms of personality and interactions with each other. I refine their conflicts. I add details to the settings.

Then I start again. Read the new draft out loud, cringe and re-write. Test the chapters out in my critique group, cringe and re-write. I don’t usually re-outline unless the book isn’t working as a whole.

Hopefully, that first “jump-start” is all I need. Ideas welcome.

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8 Comments

As always, an interesting and thought-provoking article 🙂 When I first began writing, I did what many do, just ‘write’ and let inspiration flow – with the result that I made so many blunders it was embarrassing! However, I soon realised I needed a table of characters, with their descriptions, ‘voices’ (speech characteristics), and roles. This was invaluable for the second book in the series, which I began in the same way, until I wrote myself into a plot corner halfway through. I then had to think my way out of this dilemma so wrote a complete outline of the remainder of the book, which made life a great deal easier. The other thing I had to do was keep track of time, so I inserted dates and times in blue into the draft and kept notes of when major events happened. I also had to do research along the way related to various details, and sometimes created issues for myself that I hadn’t realised would be there. So, for the third book in the series, I outlined the entire plot before starting, did the required research and kept extensive notes, and with the other aspects I’ve already mentioned covered, writing this third novel was *far* easier and faster than the first two! It also made editing a great deal easier as I didn’t have to go back and correct so many details of the plot. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of scope for inspiration along the way, and if I did need to change tack, it was also easier because I knew where I wanted to go in the long run 🙂 I imagine keeping track of dates and times would be important for your books too.

Hi Inge,
As always, interesting and thought-provoking response! Yes, I must keep track of timeline in both stories. Not always easy. (Also, you must keep track of the technology in the time period you’re in. Did they have cells in 2000, etc? Hmm, sounds like a new blog.) A fellow writer in my critique group actually has a timeline at the top of her page to remind the reader what year they are in. I thought that was interesting. Obviously it won’t work for the final book. Sounds like you’ve come a long way in your outlining process. Best of luck! Lynne

Yes, the technology and other time period details are so important. I had a funny one occur to me that gave me a few difficult moments – I had one very important scene flooded by light from a full moon, and suddenly realised that to be authentic, I really needed to check what phase the moon would be in on that night – a bit pedantic, I know, but still, why not? It was amazing that I could actually find, without too much trouble, a forward calendar system for moon phases, based on latitude and longitude. Having found this made the research for my third book easier because for its plot, I needed to know exactly when the sun set at certain places around the world on a certain date in the future – mysterious, eh? 😀 However, with the other book, I needed to rewrite the scene a little because the moon was far from full on the night in question….ah well…

I loved this post. I will admit I am the write as I go kind of writer, and I have been struggling big time with my currant WIP. I don’t know if you remember but we have talked a little bit on LinkedIn and you gave me good advice then too. I’m going to try this maybe I will finally star moving forward again. Thanks for a great post, I’ll be back to read more 🙂

Thanks for sharing Lynne! Every writer seems to have their own process they go through for this part of ‘getting started’ – unless you write by the seat of your pants.

Over the years I’ve developed a system I like. I don’t outline, but I work out a timeline of action that has to happen to move the book forward to the conclusion I want. Then I work this timeline into a story structure and 3 acts. This still gives me plenty of room for writing as I go – but keeps me on track – or at least helps me notice when I’ve veered off course. This process also seems to change a little for each book.